Day: August 9, 2018

Kenya Banks on Human Milk to Reduce Newborn Mortality

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

Joshua Okumu’s wife, Mary Mwanja, died during childbirth 18 years ago at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi. But their daughter survived. 

When he picked up his newborn baby at the nursery, grief-stricken and shocked, Okumu was not entirely sure how to feed her.

“So when I reached home, I started feeding her with a packet of milk called Tuzo,” he said. “By that time, Tuzo was not diluted like nowadays. So, that is what I was using to feed the small baby when I took her from the hospital. If the mum was there it would have been healthier to be fed by her mum.”

For Kenyan widowers like Okumu, there will soon be another option: human donor milk. 

Pumwani is getting Kenya’s first breast milk bank, which will be only the second of its kind on the continent. The other one is in South Africa. 

The bank is a joint initiative by Kenya’s Ministry of Health and PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit health organization. It will open in September for donations and offer free breast milk by prescription for babies who cannot get it from their mothers.

‘Next best option’

Dr. Elizabeth Kimani Murage, head of maternal and child well-being at the African Population and Health Research Center, is behind the project.

“The World Health Organization recommends that if the mother’s own breast milk is not available for the baby for any reason, the best next option would be the donor milk,” she said. “So the recommendation is to make donor milk available to such vulnerable babies.”

The milk bank aims to help orphaned and malnourished babies get the nutrients essential to healthy development.

Murage said mother’s milk has an enormous impact on child survival, especially during the first month of life.

“Despite improvements in infant mortality, neonatal mortality is reducing at a very slow rate, so those are the children we want to target. According to the Every Newborn Action Plan [from the World Health Organization and UNICEF], we should actually reduce neonatal mortality to 12 deaths per 1,000 live births. But, you see, we are very far [from that goal]. We are at 22.”

There are misconceptions and concerns about hygiene and the spread of disease to newborns in the use of donated milk. Murage noted that all donors’ health would checked at the hospital and that the milk would be pasteurized to ensure that only safe and healthful breast milk is given to babies in need. 
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Samsung’s New Phone Shows How Hardware Innovation Has Slowed

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Samsung’s new smartphone illustrates the limits of innovation at time when hardware advances have slowed.

The new phone, the Galaxy Note 9, will be faster and will last longer without a recharge. But while earth-shattering new features are in short supply, it will carry an earth-shattering price tag: $1,000.

The minor improvements reflect a smartphone industry that has largely pushed the limits on hardware. Major changes tend to come every few years rather than annually, and this isn’t the year for anything revolutionary in the Note.

The new phone will get some automatic photo editing and a stylus that can serve as a remote control. But the highlights will be a bigger battery, a faster processor and improved cellular speeds.

“You don’t see massive breakthroughs anymore from a hardware perspective,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Creative Strategies. “Everything is a little bit better, but nothing’s revolutionary.”

A 21 percent boost in battery capacity from last year’s Note 8 should translate to more than a day of normal use without a recharge. Samsung has been conservative on battery improvements ever since its Note 7 phone in 2016 developed a tendency to burst into flame, prompting an expensive recall and delivering a hit to the company’s reputation.

Since then, Samsung has subjected its phones to multiple inspections, including X-rays and stress tests at extreme temperatures. The company is also sending phones to outside labs, including UL, for independent safety tests.

“We’re three generations removed now,” Samsung’s director of U.S. product marketing, Suzanne De Silva, said of the company’s renewed confidence in the battery. “This is the right innovation at the right time.”

Although Samsung’s Note phones are large, niche products intended for power users, they offer a preview of what’s to come in the mass-market Galaxy S line. A dual-lens camera, with better zooming, came to the Note 8 months before the S9 Plus got it, for instance. The Note also got curved edges before that became standard on Samsung’s flagship phones.

The new phones will come out Aug. 24 in the U.S. Borrowing from the iPhone’s playbook, the Note 9 will have the same price regardless of carrier. The starting price is $1,000, an increase from the Note 8, but on par with Apple’s top-of-the-line iPhone X. The Note 9 will get double the storage, at 128 gigabytes, compared with typical high-end phones, including the iPhone X. Samsung will also sell a 512-gigabyte version for power users for $1,250.

Even though the improvements from last year aren’t huge, Technalysis Research analyst Bob O’Donnell said they will come across as major for those who haven’t upgraded for a few years.

Thursday’s announcement in New York comes about a month before Apple is expected to unveil new iPhones. There’s been speculation — unconfirmed by Apple — that all new iPhones will ditch the home button and fingerprint sensor and rely entirely on facial-recognition technology found in the iPhone X. The Note 9 will still have a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone. In a jab at Apple, Samsung executives also frequently emphasize that their phones have standard headphone jacks, which newer iPhones no longer do.

The camera in the Note 9 will use artificial intelligence to detect what’s in a scene — whether that’s food, flowers or a sunset — to automatically tweak images to make them pop. It’s much like applying filters with an app, except that the phone will do this itself, much the way Google’s Pixel phones already do.

As with the Pixel, the Note won’t be saving a version without the tweaks. Purists can turn the feature off to get images that reflect what the eye sees — an option unavailable with Pixel. The camera will also offer a warning if someone blinked in a shot, or if the image is blurry.

The Note’s stylus will now have Bluetooth, allowing people to control phones and apps from up to 30 feet away. This will let people control music or snap selfies just by clicking the stylus.

Samsung also said the popular shooter game “Fortnite” is coming to Android and will be exclusive to Samsung phones until Sunday.
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Marilyn Monroe Dresses, Personal Photos Going up for Auction

By Uponent | | No Comments | Entertainment

Dresses that belonged to Marilyn Monroe along with an autographed photo thanking the executive who launched her Hollywood career will go on display before heading to auction.

Auction house Profiles in History announced Wednesday that the items will be exhibited in Beverly Hills starting Aug. 18. An auction will follow in late October.

They include a photograph that Monroe signed to 20th Century Fox executive Ben Lyon that reads: “Dear Ben, You found me, named me and believed in me when no one else did. My thanks and love forever. Marilyn”

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Monroe changed her name after coming to Hollywood. She used her mother’s maiden name Monroe, while Lyon provided the “Marilyn.”

The photo was taken during the filming of “The Seven Year Itch,” the 1955 movie that provided history’s lasting image of Monroe, standing over a subway grate and holding down her white dress.

A version of the dress, made by the original designer Bill Travilla for Monroe for tours and exhibits, is also among the items up for sale, along with her hand-annotated script for the film.

Also in the auction are Monroe’s personal childhood photographs 15 costumes she wore in films, including dresses from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “How to Marry a Millionaire.”

The exhibit at The Paley Center for Media will also feature large format photographs of Monroe by fashion photographer Milton H. Greene, who was a friend of the actress.
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Pence: Space Force Needed to Meet New Threats

By Uponsci | | No Comments | Science

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force is necessary  to “meet the emerging threats on this new battlefied.”

“Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield … The time has come to establish the United States Space Force,” Pence said in a speech at the Pentagon.

In June, Trump called for the creation of the Space Force, a new military branch that Trump said is needed to ensure U.S. dominance in space.

Defense Secretary James Mattis expressed skepticism last year over the need for a seperate Space Force, citing more bureaucratic bloat and higher costs.

On Thursday, though, Mattis said he supported the creation of a new command that would utilize members of existing military branches.

“We’ve got to be able to compete, deter and win,” Mattis said.

The Pentagon is to submit a report to Congress soon detailing plans to create the Space Force.

Congress is the only branch of government that has the authority to approve the creation of a new military division.

 

  
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Drones Can Help Farmers Grow Healthier and More Abundant Crops

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, can become an important tool for farmers around the world within the next 10 years. Researchers at Texas A&M University in College Station are looking at different applications of precision farming with drone technology. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.
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Kids + Screen Time = Dry Eyes

By Uponsil | | No Comments | Silicon Valley

If you’ve ever spent a lot of time in front of a computer, you’ve probably come away bleary eyed. That’s because you don’t blink as much when you are working on a computer, which could lead to dry eyes. With the popularity of video games and online activities, dry eye is becoming increasingly common in children and teens glued to their screens. The condition can cause permanent eye damage, but fortunately, as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, there’s an app for that.
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Chinese Media Say US Tariff Moves Reflect ‘Mobster Mentality’

By Uponbiz | | No Comments | Business

Chinese state media on Thursday accused the United States of a “mobster mentality” in its move to implement additional tariffs on Chinese goods and warned that Beijing had all the necessary means to fight back.

The comments marked a ratcheting up in tensions between the world’s two largest economies over a trade dispute, which is already affecting industries including steel and autos and is causing unease about which products could be targeted next.

Beijing late on Wednesday said it would slap additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports, in retaliation against news the United States plans to begin collecting 25 percent extra in tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods beginning August 23.

“The two countries’ trade conflict, which is merely push and shove at the moment, is likely to escalate into more than just a scuffle if the U.S. administration cannot marshal its mobster mentality,” state newspaper China Daily said in an editorial.

“China continues to do its utmost to avoid a trade war, but in the face of the U.S.’s ever greater demand for protection money, China has no choice but to fight back,” it said.

So far, China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods, representing the vast majority of its annual imports of American products. Big-ticket U.S. items that are still not on any list are crude oil and large aircraft.

“China has confidence in protecting its own interests [and] has many means,” state broadcaster CCTV said on its early-morning news show.

Another commentary, written by China Institute of International Studies research fellow Jia Xiudong and published in the overseas edition of the People’s Daily newspaper, said the United States was trying to “suppress China’s development.”

China should consider “unconventional methods” such as the stimulus plan used by Beijing during the global financial crisis if needed to sustain economic growth, the Global Times newspaper, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said in a commentary.
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Actress Kidder’s Death Ruled a Suicide

By Uponent | | No Comments | Entertainment

Superman actress Margot Kidder’s death has been ruled a suicide, and her daughter said Wednesday that it was a relief to finally have the truth out.

Kidder, who played Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve’s Superman in her most famous role, was found by a friend in her Montana home on May 13.

At the time, Kidder’s manager, Camilla Fluxman Pines, said Kidder had died peacefully in her sleep.

A statement released Wednesday by Park County coroner Richard Wood said Kidder, 69, “died as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose” and that no further details would be released.

Maggie McGuane, Kidder’s daughter by her ex-husband Thomas McGuane, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she knew her mother had died by suicide the moment authorities took her to Kidder’s home in Livingston, a small town near Yellowstone National Park.

“It’s a big relief that the truth is out there,” she said. “It’s important to be open and honest so there’s not a cloud of shame in dealing with this.”

Kidder’s death is one of several high-profile suicides this year that include celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade.

McGuane noted that Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation and she urged people with mental illness to seek help.

“It’s a very unique sort of grief and pain,” McGuane said. “Knowing how many families in this state go through this, I wish that I could reach out to each one of them.”

Kidder struggled with mental illness much of her life, and it was made worse by a 1990 car accident that left her in debt and led to her using a wheelchair for almost two years.

4 Superman films

Kidder and Reeve starred in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987. She also appeared in The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford in 1975, Brian De Palma’s Sisters in 1973 and The Amityville Horror in 1979.

She later appeared in small films and television shows until 2017, including R.L. Stine’s the Haunting Hour. She received a Daytime Emmy Award as outstanding performer in a kids’ series in 2015 for that role.

Kidder, a native of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, was a political activist who was arrested in 2011 in a Washington, D.C., protest over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s oil sands.

Her final years were troubled by conflicts with people who were down on their luck that she had taken into her home. Between August 2016 and her death in May, authorities were called to her house 40 times on reports of people trespassing, theft and other disturbances, according to police logs released to the AP under a public-records request.

The calls included responses by ambulances five times in seven months, including at the time of her death.

Joan Kesich, a longtime friend who found Kidder’s body, said Kidder was fearless and always spoke the truth, regardless of the consequences.

“In her last months, she was herself — same kind of love, same kind of energy,” Kesich said. “The challenges that she had were very public. I want what I know about her to be out there, because it was glorious. She was really a blazing energy.”
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